The very thin plot is a rehash of the previous film, involving another betrayed accomplice of the original villain, Rothbart - this time, a witch named Zelda - trying to get at some magic left in Rothbart's old castle...which our heroes are inexplicably living in.The original three animal sidekicks are still the closest this series has to memorable characters. Speed the turtle and Puffin the puffin are OK, by virtue of their cool voices. Jean-Bob the would-be frog price is tolerable. Every other character in the film is annoying - bickering, whining and generally acting like jerks - except the titular princess, Odette, who can't muster enough character to be anything, including annoying.Each film in the trilogy involves Prince Derek being wrong and having to find a way to make it up to Odette - she is, as one character states, "always right." This makes Derek an unlikable idiot and Odette dull and one-dimensional.A bird named Whizzer joins the cast. Picture Fife from Beauty and the Beast: The Enchanted Christmas on massive amounts of sugar and helium. He fills the role of "reluctant villain's accomplice" that seems to pop up a lot in these direct-to-video films. And for some reason, the whole first scene is about him.There's a lot of fluff about a festival, including a talent show and an obstacle course. There's also a romantic subplot of sorts for Lord Rogers (or as I call him, Grimsby Cogsworth), that goes nowhere, save for killing more time with a long musical number.The animation is passable - Rogers actually looks a little less creepy in this one - but it says something about the budget when they re-use the title card (and its fancy effects animation) from the original film.I suppose children or adults who remember it from their own childhoods might like it. But there are much, much better animated films out there that also feature princesses in pretty dresses, animal sidekicks, scheming villains and musical numbers - and actually know what to do with them! :)

I had to rent a couple of movies for my little cousin for New Year's and she picked out The Swan Princess: The Mystery of the Enchanted Kingdom and The Little Mermaid 2 and we just watched both films, while she's sleeping, I figured I could get a couple comments in. :) While this is a very cheesy cartoon, it really wasn't that bad. You have to admit that for children, these plots are new to them and it could be a great introduction of these stories to them.Odette finds out that Derek has been secretly keeping the magic secrets of Rosthoe and she tells Derek to destroy them immediately, but him being a guy, typically he does not do so and tells her that no on could achieve the magics without his help. When a witch named Zelda gets her hands on them, she finds out that Derek tore off the last words of a spell she wants to use to destroy everything, and she kidnaps Odette in order to retrieve this information.The Swan Princess: The Mystery of the Enchanted Kingdom is silly and predictable, but for the kids I would honestly say it's a go. It's so rare we have these clean cut cartoons now a days, so I'm going to cut the film some slack. It was just weird seeing all the voices change all of a sudden, I grew up with the first one, so I guess it was just stuck in my head.4/10

I am the sort of person who never, ever watches animated movies, but I make an exception for Thumbelina and the Swan Princess. Being absolutely in love with the first installment of the series, I bought this and sat down to watch it with a very biased mind, determined to love it because I'd spent money buying it. I finished the movie, and all I can think is THE HORROR!!! I wanted to like it, I really did. I tried very, VERY hard to like it. But I couldn't enjoy a second of this grueling film. The songs made me feel like ripping my ears out of my head. The dialogue was so lame I felt myself twitching with frustration and irritation every time someone opened his or her mouth. The villain was laughable and I felt myself wanting Derek and Odette to die in the end... and I was absolutely in love with them from the first film.I am going to try repress the memory of this movie, because it almost destroyed the first one for me. There is one song in the movie in which there are a series of flashbacks to the first film. The difference in animation between the two is made very obvious, and I began yearning for the first one and wishing I'd never set eyes on the third.Do yourself and favor and don't waste your time.

Also titled--> The Magical Castle--> This one is a stretch. Why bother? Why create another rockbart and then add another story line that has nearly nothing to do with the play nor swan lake. Only some girlfriend of rockbart, the stolen book of forbidden arts and the original characters (not voices remain). Stripped to to its bares this is a continuation by a thread. Next thing you know some bird will have memorized the "forbidden arts" and Swan Princess 4: the magical bird will be born. Thankfully though the chapters are supposedly closed and this will beginning but bad ended trilogy will come to a close.